Excerpt from Children's Past Lives

Chapter 7: Children'ts Past Life Memories

I wondered if wee children ruminate about the past while still in their cribs, even before they can talk. Some of the children were so young when they first began talking about their memories, it seemed as if they had been just waiting for the words to come, frustrated that they could not tell their parents what they were thinking about. On the average, these toddlers were two years old, and many of them still in diapers when they first began speaking of their memories. They were still babies.

Elspeth was only eighteen months old and had never put words together before—had never uttered a complete sentence. One evening when her mother was giving Elspeth her bath, the baby said, "I'm going to take my vows." Her astonished mother couldn't believe her ears. This was Elspeth's first complete sentence—and did she say "vows"?

When she questioned Elspeth, the little one replied, "I'm not Elspeth now. I'm Rose, but I'm going to be Sister Teresa Gregory." Now her mother was stunned. They were not Catholics: Elspeth could not possibly have known about nuns and vows. She was only a baby!

Elspeth went on to tell her mother that "when I was here before" she had been an old lady and wore a long black dress with a black cloth over her head. That was it. Then one day, two years later, Elspeth filled in the story about the nun's life, describing her jobs at the convent. Her day began when it was still dark; she milked goats, made cheese, and helped prepare the food. The nuns said prayers often, and when a certain bell was rung, they had to stop talking, no matter what they were doing. Elspeth saw herself as an old woman who fell over and died while saying prayers in her tiny room.